All photos by Lori Midson.

Last night's fifth annual Hot Rocks Griller Challenge at Elway's Cherry Creek, a benefit for the Denver Health Foundation's male-based programs, was scorching hot...in more ways than one: The blazing sun beamed through the fire-haze on the sun-kissed bodies (the event is unparalleled in its people-watching), while fifteen of Denver's best chefs, some in whites, others in T-shirts, tore up the grill in a battle for slider supremacy.

See also:
- Slide show: Elway's Hot Rocks Grillers Challenge
- Troy Guard's latest gives people what they want: fun on a bun
- Drew Archer, chef of TAG Burger Bar, on pointing fingers, Ruffles and bacon

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From the Twin Peaks Facebook Page

Miss Colorado Mills 2012 Morgan Gardner

After a long, cold winter and spring, it's finally swimsuit weather -- and on Wednesday, June 12, it will be bikini time at the Exdo Events Center, where 34 contestants will compete in the Twin Peaks National All-Star Bikini Contest for the title of Miss Twin Peaks 2013.

See also:
- Twin Peaks celebrates the holidays with new uniforms and giveaways
- A second Twin Peaks opens in Broomfield today
- Attention, boobs and booze fans: Twin Peaks Restaurant is now open

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All photos by Lori Midson.

When Rob and Karin Lawler opened the doors to the Truffle Table last week, deliberately without fanfare, they knew that cheese admirers from across Denver -- and especially those in the Highland 'hood -- would sniff them out no matter what, and so they did, giving the crew a gentle workout before tomorrow, when the Lawlers, who also own the Truffle Cheese Shop, officially debut their new cheese-and-wine-centric restaurant, perched on the triangled corner of 15th Street and Boulder.

See also:
- Truffle owners opening the Truffle Table in the Cellar Wine Bar space
- The Squeaky Bean's Crickett Burns tapped as the kitchen manager at the Truffle Table
- The Truffle's Rob Lawler on Spam musubi, brains, glutards and his favorite cheese

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All photos by Lori Midson.

Forty Denver restaurants, including Biker Jim's, Euclid Hall, Jonesy's Eat Bar, Le Grand Bistro & Oyster Bar, Linger, Panzano and Pinche Tacos, along with beers from Breckenridge Brewery, Great Divide, Mountain Sun Brewery and Wynkoop Brewery, wines from Bookcliff Cellars, Bonacquisti Winery, Cottonwood Cellars, Mesa Park and Two Rivers and spring cocktails from Green Russell, CapRock Vodka, Breckenridge Bourbon Whiskey, Dancing Pines Rum and Jackalope Gin were all on display on Sunday at the Big Eat, EatDenver's annual culinary festival that celebrates the some of the city's top independent restaurants and the state's best liquid assets.

The smashing bash, which took place at Sustainability Park, in the Curtis Park 'hood, drew more than 1,000 revelers, who ate, drank and also paid tribute to Curtis Caldwell, the former sous chef of Vesta Dipping Grill, who tragically passed away in late January. Hula hooping, about which Caldwell was passionate, was a big part of the festivities, as were sticky mustaches and tributes to fallen war veterans.

Here's a glimpse of the highlights.

See also:
- Full slide show: The third annual Big Eat festival
- Win two free tickets to EatDenver's Big Eat bash on Sunday
- Our favorite local culinary gifts for foodniks: EatDenver Dining Deck

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All photos by Lori Midson.

Chris Donato, Lachlan MacKinnon-Patterson, Bobby Stuckey and Jordan "Bruiser" Wallace.

"We're the slowest movers ever," quips Bobby Stuckey. "We waited six years to do a remodel of Frasca and more than nine years to do something away from our little corner in Boulder." Stuckey, along with Chris Donato, Lachlan MacKinnon-Patterson and Jordan "Bruiser" Wallace, are the dream team behind Frasca Food and Wine, which opened almost a decade ago in Boulder. It's unsurpassed success was then followed by Pizzeria Locale, a Neapolitan-style pizzeria, which sits directly next door to the Friulan wonderland of foodstuffs, and, finally, after years of lusting on the part of Denverites, the foursome will open a second Pizzeria Locale in the Golden Triangle in Denver next Wednesday.

See also:
- Best Pizza - 2012 Pizzeria Locale
- Pizzeria Locale opening in Denver in the former Il Vicino space on Broadway
- 100 Favorite Dishes: Mais pizza from Pizzeria Locale

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All photos by Lori Midson.

Tom Ryan and his partner Rick Schaden are on a roll -- a burger roll, a 24/7 restaurant roll and a pizza roll. The two men, both of whom are the entrepreneurial brains behind Consumer Concept Group, one of the country's top companies in the field of restaurant development and investment, founded Smashburger, which now trumpets more than 220 locations across the world, including 22 in Colorado. Last year, on Halloween, they unleashed Tom's Urban 24, a 24/7 food temple that's also expanding outside of Colorado, and on Thursday of this week, Ryan and Schaden will open Live Basil Pizza, their first fast-casual pizza chain, located just off I-25 and Hampden...and conveniently next door to Smashburger.

See also:
- The man behind that smash hit, Smashburger
- First look: Smashburger unveils new design concept
- Exclusive first look: Tom's Urban 24 opens on Halloween

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All photos by Lori Midson.

Pizza palaces, as we reported earlier today, are peppered throughout the downtown Denver restaurant landscape, and while some of those same pizzerias that opened within the past year have since shuttered, Pizza Republica, the original of which resides in the Landmark development in Greenwood Village, has proven that it has staying power (not an easy feat in the 'burbs). And tomorrow, at 11 a.m. owner and executive chef George Eder will open a second outpost of Pizza Republica at 890 14th Street, directly next door to the Colorado Convention Center, and given its prime location (and what may the city's best patio to date), we're willing to bet that downtown denizens will greedily chew it up (and not spit it out).

See also:
- Round two with George Eder, exec chef of Pizza Republica
- Pizza Republica's George Eder on grubs, Groupons and the guest who was aghast
- Toppings is tapped out in LoDo, but two more pizza places coming

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All photos by Lori Midson

Zanitas Mexican and Margaritas, which originally opened in Boulder in August of last year -- and then shuttered just four months later -- is back in business, this time in south Denver, right off I-25 and Hampden in a new retail and restaurant development that also includes a Smashburger.

See also:
- Zanitas Mexican is open for business in Boulder
- Why Denver is home to the best Mexican dish in the United States
- Denver's five best street tacos

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All photos by Lori Midson.

Y'all know how I roll: Tacos rule my universe, and now, there's a new spot -- Moontower Tacos -- giving me (and the rest of you who agree that tacos are the equivalent to enlightenment) another reason to ballyhoo their virtue.

See also:
- Moontower Tacos will soon be serving tacos morning, noon and night
- Exclusive first look: Old Major, Justin Brunson's "elevated farmhouse cuisine" restaurant, is now open in Highland
- Photos: McCormick's Fish House & Bar makeover is complete

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All photos by Lori Midson

On Saturday night, as I studied the menu at Old Major, I nearly burst into tears. At one point, some time later, I did exactly that, right after my first taste of foie gras; there would be more liberal shavings of that exquisite foie on the cassoulet, which hinted at a "foie surprise." And more sappy tears of joy that followed.

And, indeed, Old Major, the Highland restaurant that chef Justin Brunson has spent months putting together with an undisputed dream squad of cooks and chefs, bartenders and wine geeks and front-of-the-house professionals, is a restaurant that's striving to be a confluence of unassailable cooking (with gorgeous compositions to match) in a striking setting that's neither too pretentious nor too casual with service that's as refined and graceful as an orchestrated ballet -- but without the snoot.

See also:
- Exclusive sneak peek: Old Major, opening on February 24
- Justin Brunson taps pastry queen Nadine Donovan to spearhead the dessert program at Old Major
- Masterpiece Delicatessen chef Justin Brunson on opening a new restaurant and his fetish for foie gras and lamb testicles

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